


i'll gladly take the hit / NERVE au

by mcbscene



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Alot of angst, M/M, Nerve AU, Someone is gonna die, theres gonna be angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 10:35:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8010328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcbscene/pseuds/mcbscene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I'd never think that you would have taken this game as seriously as you do."</p><p>"Honestly? Neither did I."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's highly recommended that you watch the trailer for NERVE before reading this fic!

**Welcome to NERVE, a game like TRUTH or DARE minus the TRUTH.**

**Watchers pay to watch, players play to win CASH and GLORY. Are you a WATCHER or a PLAYER? Are you a WATCHER or a PLAYER? Are you a WATCHER or a PLAYER?**

Gavin stared at the screen, intrigued. Nerve. The game the whole of the deep web went mad for every year. The game filled with death, controversy and risks.

Now it was here. In Los Santos. He was one click away from joining this game.

"Ryan?" He called, not wanting to leave his screen. Sure enough, Ryan walked in the door behind him, leaning over the back of his seat.

"You ever heard of Nerve, Ry~?" He asked.

"Can't say I have, Gav." Ryan said, rolling his eyes "It's some more deep web shit, isn't it?"

Gavin nodded. "Its a game. You do dares for money, and people watch. It's simple, really. Tonnes of people take it out of hand. Some kid died last year hanging off a skyscraper. It was fucking crazy. The video was all over the deep web." He explained.

"And you want to play?" Ryan questioned.

"I was going to ask if you'd play with me." Gavin admitted, looking up at Ryan.

"Play this sick, twisted game with you? I make people play twisted games for a living. I can handle it." Ryan yawned "But we can bail at any time, right?"

"Yes, but you loose everything. All the money, and you can't play ever again. Simple rules, I guess." Gavin sighed. "So, is that a yes?"

Ryan nodded, as Gavin pointed to the desk next door with a laptop on. "Log into messenger or something. You know how to access the deep web, right?"

Ryan shook his head.

"Oh Jesus fucking Christ. You've gone this long without knowing about the deep web? You are about to get seriously enlightened." Gavin muttered, standing up to push a USB into Ryan's laptop. "This is called a Tor browser. You need to open the link in this. Nobody can track you. You should always use a Tor. Like...always. So people can't track you. Understand?" Gavin lectured, as Ryan nodded, taking in the information. 

"Now open the link in that browser. And select Player. It's simple." Gavin said, moving back to his seat to forward Ryan a link. 

Ryan nodded, clicking the link. He pressed mute on the video as soon as he could, and skipped to the Watcher/Player screen.

"Ready?" Gavin asked.

"Ready." Ryan nodded.

"3...2...1..."

**"You have selected PLAYER"**

\--

Gavin picked up his phone, and so did Ryan.

GavinoFree and Vagabond. You have been selected as a team due to your relationship.

"Wait...Shit. How does the game know about that?" Ryan stammered.

"They see our Facebook accounts through our phone. Simple algorithms. It's legal." Gavin explained, looking at Ryan reassuringly. "We'll be okay. Trust me."

Ryan nodded "I'm ready." He nodded, jamming his finger on the screen. 

Both phones vibrated at the same time, and both pairs of eyes looked down at their phones. 

**Los Santos Highway. 15 minutes.**

Gavin smiled. He couldn't believe this was happeneing. The game that had consumed his life, following every news story on the game, every post on the deep web. And now he was playing it. He was in the game. And he was with the person he loved the most. 

Ryan climbed into the passenger seat, donning his mask. He wasn't going in public without it. No matter what was going to happen.

"One rule" Gavin muttered, climbing into the drivers seat of the car. "If one bails - we both bail. Understood?"

Ryan nodded "I would hate to do this game alone, Gavin. We're a team. Always."

Gavin pressed the accelerator, cruising down the street until he reached the highway. He pulled up.

"Right, get out." Gavin muttered. "The rules regarding the dares are easy. You must livestream all dares. You have fifteen minutes to complete the dare. And under no circumstances - never tell anyone about the game." He explained, looking at his phone.

**Walk through the traffic. $100**

"Jesus. A hundred dollars, for having a little fun? This is amazing. Let's do it." Ryan laughed, as they both pulled out their phone cameras.

"Let's go."

"What's up, Los Santos? It's Gavin and Ryan, and we're here to fuck shit up. Easy dare right here. Let's go." Gavin laughed, panning the camera towards Ryan's face. Ryan waved a little, not saying anything.

Gavin walked into the traffic, Ryan following just behind him. They dodged the coming cars, not caring for their own safety. 

The car horns blared as the two began to laugh, walking out the traffic unharmed. 

"Ryan? We fucking did it! A hundred dollars, baby!" Gavin yelled, grinning. "Ready for round two?"

Ryan laughed "Let's go." He smiled, sitting back in the car, staring at his phone, excited to see the next dare. 

"You sure like the game, don't you?" Gavin teased.

"I love it" he laughed "I can't wait to win this thing. How do we win?"

"Only one of us can win. If we get to the top two, then we have a final challenge to see who wins." Gavin explained.

"How do you know all this shit?" Ryan quizzed. 

"I've read up on it for the last two years it's been in operation. Every year it takes over a different city for three months. First, London. Second, New York. Now - it's Los Santos." Gavin explained "I love reading about it. It's so intresting. The lengths people have gone to to win the game. People die for the sake of the game. It's amazing."

"Would you die for the sake of this game?" Ryan asked simply.

"No. Not at all." Gavin sighed. "Its not worth it."

"No. It's not." Ryan agreed "Loosing you would be...horrible"

"Likewise, Ry.” Gavin agreed, driving down the highway once more, smiling.

~

**Make a child cry. $300. 15 minutes.**

"What the fuck?" Ryan muttered "That's cold."

Gavin checked his phone several times over, until he was sure that only Ryan got the dare. 

"Huh, alright. Seems I'm the only one with the dare. Take my phone." Ryan sighed, passing it to Gavin. 

"Don't forget to record it." He sighed, pulling down his mask. This shouldn't be too hard. He looked terrifying enough. 

He found a small child in a push chair, his mother walking in a straight line, seemingly talking on the phone.

He walked up to the pushchair, forcing the woman to stop.

"Excuse me, Sir. You'll scare my child"

"Exactly" Ryan smirked, before pushing over the pushchair, running back to Gavin.

Sure enough, the baby cried, and Gavin and Ryan had to run back to the car, and drive. 

Gavin was the first to break into laughter. "Did you see her face? You scared the shit out of her, am I right?"

Ryan smiled a little "What about watchers?"

"You had 82 watchers at the highest point of that stream."

"Sweet!" Ryan grinned

Gavin rolled his eyes "I never thought you'd take this game as seriously as you do."

Ryan smirked "Honestly? Neither did I."


	2. I guess that it sucks to be you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Michael saw was Gavin running from a fire with a phone. But Ray knew exactly what was going on.

**Start a Fire. $500. 15 minutes.**

"Simple. There's a forest over there. I have a lighter in my pocket." Gavin mumbled, looking at his phone. "Ryan, record, please" he muttered, passing his phone across to his masked boyfriend.

"Okay guys. The challenge is simple. Start a fire. Luckily fires are my speciality." Gavin explained, flashing a smile to the camera. His hands seemlessly found leaves and small twigs as kindling, before he set them ablaze with his lighter. He then kept adding more wood. 

"Why isn't the fucking dare completing?" Ryan yelled, looking at the screen. "You made a fire, right?"

"Hey - I have no problem in it, Vaga. I could make this fire all day. The bigger the better." Gavin smirked.

The blaze was taller than Gavin now, as he stepped back in triumph. 

"Okay it's go-" Ryan began. "Wait. Wait. Shit." He said, looking up from his phone. The fire had caught on to some nearby trees, and was quickly spreading.

"Gavin! Run!" Ryan yelled.

Gavin, who was staring at Ryan blankly, broke into a run as soon as he looked behind him. He didn't exactly show any signs of fear. He just wanted to stay alive.

Ryan took Gavin's hand, as they ran out the forest, jumping into the car. The entire forest was on fire now, blazing relentlessly. 

"Jesus Christ," Gavin muttered, as he drove away. "I did that. For a fucking game. Someone could have died."

"Don't worry about it, babe. I got you." Ryan reasured him, pulling down his mask.

-

Michael was unaware that half the forest was on fire, until he was in the half of the forest that was on fire.

Michael was alone, trying to remember why he had came to the forest in the first place. Ray had left his gun there whilst playing Pokemon Go. Typical.

Why did he even need to take his gun on a Pokemon hunt? 

Why did he even need to go on a godforsaken Pokemon hunt?

Why was he the one fetching the gun?

Ray had very sternly closed his eyes and fell asleep after asking him. Leaving him somewhat no choice.

Now he was here, absentmindedly scrolling through his phone, looking up for a gun at choice moments.

He was about to turn around to leave, until he began to feel heat on his face.

Sharing a house with Gavin meant that feeling was unmistakable. Fire.

He pushed his phone into his pocket, looking up. The fire was at least double his size, bigger than he had seen in a long time. 

"Jesus Christ." He muttered, attempting to run away from the fire. Fuck the gun. 

That's when he heard the sound of cracking wood. A tree was hideously close to timber. He didn't have time to look behind him. Just keep running.

Just keep running.

Snap.

The tree grabbed the back of Michael's legs, sending him falling to the ground, trapped under the tree. The embers burnt his clothes, as ash scattered into his face.

He spat a hundred curse words, as he tried to push the tree off him.

"Fuck. Please.." he said, trapped under the tree aggressively. Eventually it gave, and he managed to run once more, even if it was with a slight limp. It was better than nothing.

Eventually he made it to the highway.

Just in time to see Gavin running off, laughing, with a phone in hand.

Of course it was Gavin. 

He fumbled for his phone, calling Ray immediately.

"Ray?" He asked

"Mikey, did you get the gun?" Ray asked, half-asleep.

"Its gone. Gavin burnt down the forest. I was there. Burnt my fucking clothes. He was recording it for some reason. On his phone." Michael explained. 

The line on Ray's end went silent for long time.

"Mikey?"

"Yes?"

"Um...Have you heard of NERVE?"

Michael sighed "No. What is it?"

"Its a game. You do dares for money. They get dangerous. Gavin told me about it. I think he's playing it." Ray explained, yawning. 

"Oh. Sounds great." Michael spat, rolling his eyes.

"Come down. I'll pay for watcher for a night, and we can see if I'm right." Ray sighed. Michael agreed, and hung up the line. 

-

"Ray? I'm back." Michael called, walking up to Ray's room. Ray had a screen up on his laptop. Two boxes. One with the word "Watcher" and the Second with the word "Player".

"So, I click Watcher. And we pay some money. And we watch. We look for Gavin." Ray sighed, completing the process.

A second screen pulled up, filled with a list of names.

"Just as I thought. GavinoFree. 79th on the leaderboard. Vagabond at 80th." Ray noted. 

"Ryan? Why is here there?" Michael asked.

"Gavin must have brought him along on the ride." Ray sighed, clicking on Gavin's account.

**No ongoing dares.**

**Click to watch GavinoFree 's previous dare.**

Ray clicked. 

"See? Right there" Michael noted, pointing at the screen. 

"Start a fire for five hundred dollars." He read out. "This game is sick."

"Okay guys. The challenge is simple. Start a fire. Luckily fires are my speciality." 

"Jesus Christ, that is Gavin. What's got him into this, do you know?" Michael quizzed.

"Its deep web based. You know how much Gavin loves the deep web."

"Ah. How can we stop them playing?" He asked again. "How can we teach them a lesson?"

"The only way to kick them out would be to play ourselves. And win. But it's not like we would ever-" Ray explained. 

"No. No. I'm playing this game, Ray. I'm beating that fucking scumbag. I'm winning this game." Michael said definatly. 

"No. No you're not." Ray pleaded. 

"I can handle whatever this game throws at me. Trust me." Michael dismissed, pushing Ray aside. He reset the page, returning back to the Watcher/Player screen, selecting Player.

Immediately, Michaels phone began to vibrate. He pulled it out.

**MJones. Welcome to Nerve. Await your first dare.**

And then a new message.

**Get Ray to join Nerve as a player. $300. 15 minutes**

Then a camera screen appeared, and everything Michael did was being streamed live. 

"Shit." Michael swore, looking over to Ray. 

"So. You're in the game now, Michael. Great decision." Ray sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah. Why aren't you joining?" Michael sighed.

"Because it's fucking stupid! Isn't it obvious?"

"Listen, you can bail at any time." Michael said, feebily trying to persuade him.

"I know. But what if we died first?"

"We're not stupid. You gotta join. Then we can be a team." Michael pleaded. "At least try one dare. Then if you don't like it, you can bail. You don't loose alot of money. And you can get out." 

"Fine, one dare. Just to shut you up." Ray sighed, pressing the player button.

**NaMnWoRb, welcome to NERVE. You and MJones have been selected as a team due to your relationship.**


	3. Get Drunk, Call Me A Fool

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ray gets drunk, Michael plays the game.

Michael tried to brush off the fact that the game knew so much about him. It knew their gamertags, the fact that they were in a relationship. 

This game was dangerous, and he damn well knew it. But maybe it could be fun. He was with Ray, after all.

Ray hadn't said a single word during the long drive into central Los Santos. The game has instructed the two of them to go to the central shopping district.

They had fifteen minutes, and they had no time to loose. Michael didn't want to be kicked out the game before it had even started. 

Ray couldn't care less. He absentmindedly tapped on his 3DS, not caring less. 

The timer was in its final minute, as Michael floored the pedal, pulling in to the car park. "Okay, we're here. You ready, Ray?" He asked.

Ray grunted in response, slamming his 3DS shut. The two climbed out the car, and both stared expectantly at their phone's.

Ray's was the first to light up. 

Punch a stranger. 15 minutes. $400 

"Just you, huh?" Michael mused, looking over at the phone. "Punch a stranger, huh?

Ray nodded "I'm bailing"

"No you're not! We're a team. Don't you know what that means?"

Ray shook his head. "Nope"

"If you bail, I have to bail. I'm not forfitting this. We gotta teach those fucks a lesson." Michael rolled his eyes "Punch a fucking stranger. Give me that-" he yelled, snatching the phone off Ray. He pressed the accept button, and began to record.

"Hello guys. It's Ray about to do his first dare. You ready to watch him?" Michael hyped, smiling. Ray stood about in the parking lot, awkwardly. 

"Go on!" Michael groaned. "This shit is on a timer, Ray!"

Ray sighed "Fine. Okay." He moaned, looking for a stranger that looked...safe to punch. He settled on a young man in his twenties, carrying a bag of what looked like second hand games.

Ray approached the man, staring at him for a brief moment, unsure whether to continue. He balled his hand into a fist, and slammed it into his face.

The man's face was covered in blood, and his nose was most likely broken. Ray felt proud as fuck. 

The man couldn't move. He was most likely passed out. Or dead. He couldn't tell the difference.

Ray turned to the camera. Might as well give them a show, right? He smirked, wiping the blood from his knuckles.

"Thanks for watching." He smirked, covering the camera with his hand, before snatching the phone back off Michael.

"I'll be taking that, thanks. And my three hundred dollars." He smirked.

"See? I told you you'd like the game eventually"

"Who said I liked the game?" Ray shot back. "I just got money for doing what I normally do anyway. No biggie"

"Yeah, of course" Michael smirked. Ray was loving the game, it was obvious. 

Then Michael's phone lit up, along with Ray's.

"Another one? Already?!" Ray said, in a tone half excited and half pissed.

Michael nodded, glancing down at the screen.

Get drunk. $800. 

"Huh, no time limit?" Ray mused.

"Can't put a time limit on a good time. The watchers probably want to see us make out or something." Michael sighed.

"Huh, I'm down" Ray shrugged.

Michael nodded. $800 simply for having fun. No harm. It was easy shit, and a night out with Ray.

Him and Ray hadn't had a night out in a long time. Minus the heists, he didn't go out at night at all.

"Where should we go? Anywhere in mind?" Ray asked. 

"There's a couple good clubs downtown. I heard Underground is pretty good. Nice shots and shit like that." Michael said, looking down at his phone.

"Shots are the shit. Let's do it"

-

The Underground was filled with people dancing, and a choice few were filming their arrival.

"Watchers" Michael explained, as Ray nodded. Michael made his way to the bar, ordering twenty shots to share between the two of them.

They came out on two long boards, as the two sat down at a table with them. A small crowd congregated around them, all watching intently through their phone screens.

"Jesus, Is this crazy or what?" Ray joked, grabbing a shot and downing it.

"Yeah. They're just watching us. It's fucking werid." Michael explained, yawning as he grabbed a shot for himself.

"What do they mean by drunk?" Ray asked

"Until the watchers are happy. So until we make out or some shit"

"Ah."

And they spoke no more of it. They both tried to ignore the crowd as they took shots between them. Michael was the first to finish, slamming the last glass down on the board with a satisfying smile on his face.

Ray wasn't much of a drinker. The most he went was a couple Jack and Coke on the weekend. He was a gamer at heart, and getting drunk really messed with his reaction time.

By the time Michael was finished, Ray still had another four to go, as he tried to force them down, the watchers around him yelling words of half-encouragement and half-deprecation.

He finished the board fifteen minutes after Michael, as he pulled out his phone to look at the dare. It was still there.

He was sure as hell drunk by now. He couldn't see straight.

What did this game want from him?

Meanwhile, Michael was smiling, talking with the watchers. 

Ray always admired the way Michael spoke. He seemed to be able to talk to anyone, and never lied. He spoke the truth no matter what it was.

It made every "I love you" twice as special.

Ray tentatively reached his arm out towards Michael's shoulder, turning him to face him. He smiled a little, as Ray pulled Michael close to him. And the thousands of phone lights seemed to dissapeer. 

All that was left was him and Michael. His Michael.

He was Michael's and Michael was his.

Their lips met as the two began to kiss deeper, their hands tangled in eachothers clothes, to the point where they melted into eachother. Sinking, falling. 

Their edges met, and they entwined together, making one, solid structure. Each second felt like a century. Each moment led to the next which ended up feeling like forever.

But the moment they pulled away, it went to pieces.

All it ended up as was $800.

**dare completed**

And that was all it was. A dare. A way for Michael to get revenge on Gavin and Ryan.

Was the kiss simply part of the game?

Was anything about Michael real anymore?

**Author's Note:**

> So! Thanks for reading the first chapter of this new fic of mine. I made this au on my own, but I do not own AH or NERVE. 
> 
> NERVE is an amazing movie to be honest.
> 
> Hope you enjoy - and get ready for angst later on.
> 
> ~ Gav


End file.
